A Japanese municipal assembly member tweeted that homosexuals are "abnormal animals" on Sunday night, November, 29. After igniting an outrage on Twitter and across the Internet, he was urged to resign on the following Thursday.
He also criticized the media for lacking morality by covering homosexuality, tweeting at two major news outlets, Asahi, a national newspaper, and NHK, one of Japan's largest TV networks.
これでは誤解する人が多いでしょうね。 鶴指眞澄議員@turusashi_masum はもっとひどい表現をしていました。 @nhk_news
“Do not report to normalize the actions of abnormal people,” said the 71-year-old assemblyman, Masumi Tsurusashi, in his late night tweet. He later apologized and told NHK that he was drunk. After deleting his tweets, Tsurusashi posted another one acknowledging his “inappropriate expression.”
The tweet calling media immoral for reporting on homosexuality was retweeted more than 1,600 times even though Tsurusashi had only a little more than 100 followers on Twitter before the incident.
The Internet criticized his tweets and called his apology an excuse.
Twitter user Takuramix asked Tsurusashi if there was any “appropriate expression” to say that homosexuality is abnormal.
同性愛について「生物の根底を変える異常動物」と仰った部分を「不適切な表現」としてお詫びなさっているのだと思いますが、貴方様の仰りたかった事を「適切な表現」ではどのように表現出来るか、お示し下さい。 @turusashi_masum
Once the legions of Twitter users came after him though, they found other offensive tweets, including a sexist one from 2013.
すごいねこの人、ある意味。てか女性が多いとダメなところでもあるの？そもそも予報だからね。予報ね！自分の立場考えてから発言して！SNS向いてないでしょ。花の便りが楽しみな人もいるかもよ〜 @turusashi_masum
In response to an academic scandal, Tsurusashi questioned a research center involved why it promoted women to leadership roles.
同性愛の方々を「生物の根底を変える異常動物」とツイートして炎上した、鶴指眞澄海老名市議(@turusashi_masum)は、女性の仕事に対しての偏見も凄まじい物がありますね。 何で、こんな人が市議やってるんでしょうね(・ω・)
Others responded to his homophobic comments with gay and lesbian comics, a popular genre in Japan.
いや〜ほんと百合は最高だなぁ〜ｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗどっかの@turusashi_masumみたいに同性愛を否定する奴は土下座しような〜ｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ
His campaign pamphlet, which says he is a reliable candidate with “rich social experience and wide knowledge,” was also dug up.
@turusashi_masum 幅広い知識がないから、今回みたいなことになって、信頼もなくなったんだと思いますよ。
Over the past year, Japan has made progress in eliminating discrimination against LGBT people. Three cities, including two wards, Shibuya and Setagaya in Tokyo and Takarazuka city in Hyogo Prefecture, recently started to recognize same-sex domestic partnerships.
The TV show Tsurusashi referred to in his tweets was a follow-up to the recent legislation changes, "we wanted to be recognized as families," reads the title of the program.
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